Dubai falling short of global aspirations
So is Dubai a major global financial centre (and a great place to develop your career)? Not according to a new survey.
The second report from the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) suggests Dubai falls outside the top 20 global financial centres and ranks behind the likes of Toronto, which is hardly known for its financial prowess.
The good news is that the desert city doesn't have far to go before it's in the biggish league. Dubai is ranked 22 out of 50 centres, a leap of three places on the first survey earlier this year.
Michael Mainelli, one of the authors of the report at Z/Yen Group, says it's still early days for the emirate: "It's been getting really good marks in terms of quality of regulation, and rates highly for banking potential, but the jury's out for now."
Will Dubai rival 13th-place Toronto next time the survey takes place? Maybe. The results were compiled before the landmark DP World flotation on the DIFX, which has since announced its intentions to become a top-three stock exchange. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum has also been doing his bit for the emirate by amassing a number of infrastructure assets, as well as taking stakes in large Western companies.
In the mean time, if Dubai isn't the place to be in the Emirates, neither is anywhere else. Bahrain and Qatar are new entrants to the GFCI and come in at 44 and 47, respectively. No other Gulf nations make it into the top 50.
